Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei Wednesday defended his cabinet's lacklustre performance, as his embattled Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon sought grass roots support for a Gaza pullout plan.
In an address to parliament after almost half a year in office, Qorei blamed the lack of progress in security reforms on internal divisions.
"The government took steps but the results were limited, for objective and subjective reasons, and owing to conflicts and a chaotic situation between the security services and their heads," Qorei said in Ramallah.
Deep rivalries between the Palestinian Authority's unwieldy security services, over which veteran leader Yasser Arafat retains a large control, have plagued efforts to implement reforms demanded by the international community and crack down on militant groups.
"The situation has remained the same since the government was formed. The (Israeli) siege, the aggression continue. The economic situation is deteriorating, the internal security situation is ... getting worse," he added.
Qorei, seen as more reluctant than his predecessor Mahmud Abbas to push for significant reforms and challenge Arafat's authority, also blamed Washington's "blatant bias" towards Israel.
Commenting on Sharon's plan to withdraw from most Jewish settlements in Gaza, Qorei said "in truth, we do not know if it is plan or a simple proposal."
"If the withdrawal happens, it will be important for us and for the other people in the region ... and must open the way to resuming peace negotiations," he said, insisting Israel should also pull out from the occupied West Bank.
Meanwhile in Israel, Sharon looked to his Likud party's rank and file to secure support for his plan, in the absence of clear-cut backing within the central committee or his own cabinet.
At a Likud convention late Tuesday, Sharon secured agreement for holding a referendum among members on his "disengagement plan".
A poll published by the top-selling Yediot Aharonot on Wednesday said 51 percent of party members are in favour of Sharon's proposals.
The referendum is likely to take place after Sharon returns from talks in the United States with President George W. Bush slated for April 14.
Sharon needs Washington's approval for the disengagement plan which is likely to see Israel evacuate all but a handful of the Gaza settlements as well as strengthening control over others in the West Bank.
The Bush administration has said it wants more details before it decides whether to give the project its approval.
Three senior US officials, led by Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, are expected to hold talks with Sharon in Jerusalem on Thursday.
The trio are to hold a separate meeting with Qorei in either east Jerusalem or the West Bank town of Jericho, US and Palestinian sources said.
Clashes
Clashes broke out Wednesday between stone-throwing settlers and Israeli forces removing an uninhabited settlement outpost used as a synagogue near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
But in a seemingly endless pattern of construction and reconstruction, the settlers immediately started rebuilding the prefab structure, sparking more violence.
A second outpost consisting of two containers, close to the West Bank town of Bethlehem, was removed without opposition.
New families of Jewish settlers in a densely-populated Arab neighbourhood of annexed east Jerusalem also received a rude welcome Wednesday, when Palestinians pelted them with stones.
Israeli police arrested nine people and found petrol bombs on a roof.
In southern Gaza, at least one Palestinian militant was killed in a failed operation on a settlement, Palestinian security sources.
Israeli military sources said they shot two individuals approaching the Neve Dekalim settlement in a closed military area, but there was no confirmation that a second militant was killed.
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